Channels last channel flashback method breaks play/pause toggle

Channels Apple TV Troubleshooting
#1

If you have ever tried to toggle the play pause button in order to advance slowly forward (closest thing to frame by frame scrub we have on Apple TV), you will find that you can’t do it in the Channels app because Channels picks this up as a double click channel change request.

In my opinion, Play/Pause should be reserved for Play/Pause (and freeze frame advance by quickly toggling the button)

Perhaps the channel change shortcut should be moved to a less intrusive shortcut that does not take away existing needed functionality.

For example, maybe employ long press instead of double click to trigger a channel change. That would allow toggle clicks on play/pause to regain its intended/expected function.

#2

I don’t understand what you mean. Clicking the play/pause button does exactly that, it pauses the video while playing and plays it if it’s playing.

In order to scrub, you must pause the video first and then pan across the touch surface to move the playhead, just like the system video player.

Double clicking the play/pause button jumps back to the last channel you were on.

Are you seeing different behavior?

#3

Correct, if you simply “click” once, its not a problem. The problem is when you click to play, then click to pause in rapid succession (I’m calling that a “toggle” which may be where we are crossed). Also I probably shouldn’t say “scrub” since that’s only applicable to the swipe pad. I’ve changed it from “scrub” to “advance” in the title to clarify.

When the program is paused, there are two ways to do frame advance:

  1. Using the swipe pad. We are in agreement on this. You can pause and swipe forwards and backwards. However, if you want to find a specific frame, or scrub frame by frame, this method is tediously painful. Which is why I often use the toggle method below.

  2. Toggling the play/pause button. If you click twice in rapid succession, you essentially are doing a frame by frame advance (as close as its possible to do on ATV). You cannot do this as accurately with (1) above, its too jumpy.

However, since Channels listens for a “double click” with the play/pause button, if you are trying to quickly toggle to do frame advance, it’s often read as a doubleclick, which changes the channel.

My suggestion is to change your doubleclick channel change so that it does not interfere with rapid play/pause activity. Perhaps do the channel change on long press instead of double click, since long press is much more intentional and doesn’t break an otherwise useful function of toggling play/pause to do short burst frame advance.

#4

Oh, I understand now. You are just making a fake slow motion by quickly clicking the play/pause button.

Sorry, there’s no plans to change the existing behavior.

#5

I think of it more as a frame advance than a slow motion. You are trying to freeze on a specific frame, not watch the playback in slow motion. In order to do that, you will often click play/pause rapidly in succession, which Channels interprets as a last channel request. Other programs interpret it as a play/pause toggle.

I didn’t expect there were any plans to change it. Just wanted to bring it to your attention that it interferes with a more useful function for play/pause.

Obviously, just my opinion. Hopefully future shortcuts will take into consideration all the ways that users might interact with the transport controls so you aren’t limiting existing functionality to gain additional ones.

I love the idea of shortcuts, and making things easier for users. Just not at the expense of other useful functionality.

#6

BTW, is the double click on touchpad still applicable for this behavior or does it do something different?

#7

i understand the Devs point in this due to the minimal number of buttons on the AppleTV remote. i was glad that there was a shortcut for the last channel [double clicking the play/pause button].

have you tried pause then click on the left swipe pad and see if this accomplishes what you’re trying to do [slow advance]? if not, i wonder if the Devs can create that functionality.

also for the Devs, the swipe pad responds to a light tap…like showing the progress bar. is there a double tap action for it [not full press just light tap on the swipe pad] that can be use for another function?

#8

Frame by frame advance is the objective. Its not really easy to do using the swipe pad gestures, so the toggle play/pause is as close as we have (on most ATV apps).

If Channels devs are able to give us an alternate method of frame by frame advance, that would be terrific. However, there are other ways to get around the button limitation. For example, as I suggested, rather than use double click, you can use long press. You could also use double click on the swipe pad unless that’s already reserved for something else.

Another option would be to use the top corners of the remote for frame by frame advance. That would be the best option, much better than play/pause toggle since you have precise playhead control in both directions.

It’s very useful for sports as an example, if you wanted to freeze on a specific frame.

#9

Nevermind, I found it:

Looks like the last channel/flashback was originally initiated by double-click on the touchpad, but was moved to the play/pause button at some point.

In checking this just now, I found a new way to do the play/pause toggle. You can click on the touchpad to pause the video, then quickly double click to advance the playhead in short bursts. This has the same affect as the play/pause toggle button but does not have the unintentional affect of changing channels.

#10

In light of the fact that this is not likely to change, I’ve created a new feature request to allow frame by frame advance and slow motion here: